THIS is amazing! Getting rejected for submissions is part of the process, and most of the time a quick automated letter rejection is a great favor publishers can do for you. (They are super super busy.) This rejection took a bit longer, because A) it's a huge well known publisher with a ginormous backlog and B) the submission staff thought to take time out and give me the holiest of holy grails of rejections, a personalized note with helpful advice.

Dear Ms. Kurisato,

Thanks so much for submitting to (redacted), and for your patience while

How cool is that? That submissions group is a nice bunch of folks, and it's heartwarming to get a personal note rather than a boilerplate response. Yay me. Now to tinker with the story and send it back out while I work on the novels and the other shorts.